DES MOINES, Iowa – In Sunday’s finale at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, former LSU standout Xavier Carter took home the bronze medal in the 200-meter dash, while sophomore All-American Barrett Nugent shattered his own school record in the final of the 110-meter hurdles to lead the LSU contingent competing at Drake Stadium.
Carter was the first to step onto the track for Sunday’s semifinal action and easily qualified for the final in the 200 meters with the fastest time of the semifinal round at 20.46 seconds.
He then returned to the track for the championship final just over two hours later and was crowned bronze medalist of this year’s USA Championships after crossing the finish line with a wind-aided time of 20.29.
Nugent’s performance on the final day of competition was even more impressive as he set back-to-back wind-legal personal bests en route to a fifth-place finish in the final of the 110-meter hurdles. Nugent set a new personal record with a time of 13.48 in the semifinal round before shattering his own personal record and LSU school record with a wind-legal time of 13.35 in the championship final.
The four-time All-American entered the USA Championships with a previous PR of 13.49 that he set just two weeks ago in a second-place finish at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., breaking the 23-year-old school record of 13.50 set by Eric Reid in 1987.
Departing seniors LaTavia Thomas and Richard Jones earned a pair of sixth-place finishes in the finals of the 800-meter run on Sunday afternoon as Thomas clocked her second-fastest time of 2010 with a time of 2 minutes, 1.70 seconds and Jones followed with a time of 1:47.67 in the men’s final.
In the last event to go final at this year’s USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, former LSU jumps star Jeremy Hicks earned a fifth-place finish in the men’s long jump final with a top mark of 26-5 ½.